Site Logo
University of Alaska President Pat Pitney stopped by the Empire offices in Juneau on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, to talk about the system’s future. Mostly recovered from budget cuts and the COVID-19 pandemic, Pitney said the university is ready to start building Alaska’s workforce. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

Pitney: UA ready to train Alaska’s workforce

‘Getting people through the pipeline.’

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file This photo composite shows Alaska’s congressional delegation, from left to right, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Don Young, all Republicans. Following President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Alaska’s delegation called for increased U.S. energy development.

News

Delegation urges energy production following State of the Union

Alaska’s lawmakers say energy is unused weapon

Lucas Stumpf, a fishery biologist with the Division of Sport Fish, helps Aurora Borealis Charter School third grader Teagan Jorgensen, left, with her line while she ice fishes at Sport Lake in Soldotna as part of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s “Salmon in the Classroom” ice fishing educational program on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

News

‘Fish on!’

Kids cast lines and learn at ice fishing event

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

News

Peninsula residents among newly reported COVID deaths

New deaths are reported through death certificate review each Wednesday

President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington. (Saul Loeb, Pool via AP)

News

Biden vows to check Russian aggression, fight inflation

“Too many families are struggling to keep up with the bills,” Biden said.

In this September 2019 Empire file photo, prescriptions drugs, vitamins, hormones, and other drugs left in the drug drop box in the lobby of the Juneau Police Department are displayed. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file)

News

Alaska to receive $58M in opioid settlement

15% of the $58 million — roughly $8.7 million — will go to the nine political subdivisions in…

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire The offices of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation got some rate sun on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, as Alaska’s lawmakers urged the corporation’s Board of Directors to divest from Russian assets in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

News

Permanent Fund to hold Russian assets as lawmakers urge divestment

Many states are divesting.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reacts as she leaves a courthouse in New York, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Palin lost her libel lawsuit against The New York Times on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, when a jury rejected her claim that the newspaper maliciously damaged her reputation by erroneously linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

News

Judge defends move to toss Palin’s libel case against NYT

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said he was unfamiliar with the term “push notifications”

Central Peninsula Hospital is seen in Soldotna on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

News

As COVID cases fall statewide, hospital feels relief

COVID cases have been plummeting in Alaska since mid-January

Image via labor.alaska.gov.

News

Wages up from a decade ago

Yearly wages rose 11% when adjusted for inflation — or approximately $5,809 annually — from 2010 to 2020

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland speaks during a board meeting on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Contact tracing, masking to end at schools Friday

The district announced new changes to its COVID-19 protocol on Monday

Alaska State Troopers logo.

News

Driftwood Charters vessel rescues man who floated into Cook Inlet on iceberg

Man rescued after floating in Cook Inlet on iceberg

The Kenai Peninsula’s Community Level is shown as medium on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled new metrics to assess COVID-19 risk level last week. (cdc.gov)

News

State COVID cases declining

The new cases come days after new masking guidelines were issued by the CDC

Assembly members Richard Derkevorkian (left) and Jesse Bjorkman consult during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara)

News

Borough seeks to fill planning commission vacancies

Two new commissioners took their seats for the Monday night meeting

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is currently working on a study for a second crossing across the Gastineau Channel, seen here on Aug. 22, 2021, to North Douglas Island. The public outreach portion of the study is set to begin in May, according to DOT.

News

Federal funds could pay for a 2nd crossing to Douglas Island

With infrastructure in focus, a decades-old idea is getting another shot

A map of COVID-19 Community Levels by county show the Kenai Peninsula have a “medium” community level on Friday, Feb. 24, 2022. (CDC.gov)

News

CDC: Many more can ditch masks, for now

The agency is now only advising universal masking in regions where community COVID level is high

Kenai Parks and Recreation Director Brad Walker speaks during a small group activity as part of a community vision session for the Kenai Waterfront Revitalization Project on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O'Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Community brainstorms future of Kenai’s waterfront

The City of Kenai moderated an event Thursday at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center

Community agencies administer social services during the Project Homeless Connect event at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Soldotna mini grant goes to Project Homeless Connect effort

$5 gift cards from Arby’s, Subway and Safeway were distributed to Project Homeless Connect participants

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaks to reporters in the state Capitol on on Feb. 22, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats say they are hoping for a bipartisan vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

News

Murkowski among senators to watch as Supreme Court fight unfolds

President Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

Pat Pitney was named President of the University of Alaska Friday after serving as interim president for over a year. She is the first woman to hold the position in UA’s history. (Courtesy photo / University of Alaska)

News

Pat Pitney named UA President

After shedding interim label, she’s the first woman to hold the post.